The document DE 10 2011 088 365 A1 discloses a sensor device to detect selector lever positions comprising a magnetic disc-shaped code carrier with differently magnetized coding areas, wherein the code carrier can be arranged relatively movable towards stationary hall sensors arranged strung along a line or arranged carried along movably on a selector lever. The code carrier and the hall sensors are arranged to each other such that the hall sensors, in any predetermined position of the code carrier that corresponds to a selection lever position of the selector lever to be detected, can read out opposite coding areas and can provide them as a sensor signal. Depending on their magnetizing, the encodings of the magnetized coding areas are emitted by the hall sensor with a sensor signal value “1” and “0”, by which each of the hall sensors depicts a binary sensor. The read out sensor signal values “0” and “1” are referred to as alphabet in the coding theory. By means of four hall sensors, 16 different conditions can be represented as a 4-bit signal word or signal code accordingly, of which selected signal codes can be assignable to a selector lever position of the selector level to be detected. Specific requirements are therefore imposed on signal codes of successive selector lever positions, particularly to diagnose the functionality of individual sensors, which are fulfilled across the so-called Hamming distance, in particular. If a minimal Hamming distance of two is required to recognize a single fault, for example, each signal code assigned to a selector lever position should differ in at least two characters from each of the other valid signal codes.
With that said, the embodiments of the present disclosure accomplishes an improved sensor device for detecting a selector lever position and an improved selector lever device for a motor vehicle comprising such a sensor device according to the main claims. By means of the suggested sensor device, an improved diagnostic option shall be provided, wherein the sensor device can be designed compact and enables a reliable detecting of the selector lever positions, particularly in case of defect of one of the sensors used for detecting the selector lever positions. Advantageous designs arise from the dependent claims and the following description.